Stuff

Where did all the stuff come from???? I've been sorting through stuff; my landlady's daughter is having a garage sale next weekend and anything I don't want (or don't want to pack) that ends up in the garage will get sold. It's good to get rid of stuff, but ten boxes of books and stuff and two garbage bags of clothes (and I'm not quite done the sorting or the big bookcase) is a lot of stuff that I don't need or want but own anyway.

It's got me thinking. What is with this need to accumulate stuff? Why do I shop? It's not because I need stuff (well, not always) or I wouldn't be able to get rid of so much of it. There's some part of me that wants to own stuff. It's the joy of ownership but it doesn't last, and I end up buying more stuff. It's not good. I need to learn to be content with what I already have.

Just to keep life interesting...

I've decided that I don't have enough on my plate now. School and works and church stuff just aren't taking up enough of my time. Or they've just caused me to lose my mind. Anyway, next month, after I get back from school, I'm moving.

(To my family: this counts as telling you, okay? And I'm not leaving Edmonton.)

I have friends who have a little condo that they want to rent and they offered me first dibs. I like it, I like the location, and I'm ready to move.

If you're looking me, I'll be sleeping, studying, or packing. Or possibly trying to decide how to add even more stress to my life!

To continue...

On the church letting people down:

It isn't always the church. I know parents who won't take a firm stand, who like the words "some people believe..." rather than simply "the Bible says... ." They make God soft and Scripture flexible. Then they wonder why their children question or wander away from the church or doubt everything. They blame the church for not meeting the needs of the young people.

Might it be because the parents haven't given their children anything solid? They are brought up on soft belief and it won't hold up under pressure.

The Church

I'm overhearing a conversation right now about how the church has let/is letting young people down. The church needs to change with the times and offer things that young people want: less theology, less doctrine, more "meeting their needs" and gatherings; it needs to be more interesting for the young people. It needs to be more "where they're at" (I'm not sure what that means).

I go to a reformed Baptist church. Our "worship band" is a keyboard and sometimes a flute with a couple people leading music. They just stand there and sing; no dancing there. There's scripture reading and expository sermons. We sit in rows and listen to the preacher who preaches with authority. All of our 'programs' consist of Sunday School, Children's Church, Youth Group, and a couple mid-week Bible Studies. All of them focus on the Bible and truth. I think it would be labeled "boring" by those who are having the converstation. I don't think they would approve. There should be more "freedom in worship" and more "relevant" activities and things to attract people.

So perhaps you can explain why people keep coming, including young couples with small children or teenagers; they are exactly the people who should be looking for something else, something with better programs and exciting worship and less doctrine.

Interesting fact: some of the people in that conversation don't quite believe everything I say about my church. They have trouble believing that the pastor talks about sin and that the sermons don't leave people "feeling good" and that the pastor is older because if all this was true, young people simply wouldn't come and I could not like it as much as I do. It doesn't compute in their minds.

What I'm Reading

I've finished The Truth War by John MacArthur. It took a while to finish because it was very deep stuff and it took a lot of thought.

One thing that stood out was the need to learn from history; this has come up in other books as well. There are all sorts of ideas and beliefs floating around and they're often spoken of as being some sort of new revelation, but many of them have been around on and off (and proven false) since the early days of Christianity.

The other thing is to know the truth and to be willing to stand up for it. It's easier to let things slide or simply to keep silent about topics that I know will upset people or lead to confrontation (and accusations of narrow-mindedness or insistance that one view is just as valid as another or whatever refusal to listen technique they throw at me).

Yeah, so go read the book.

This One's Really for Patty

I present to you: Monkey Bread

Start with:

1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg (1 tbsp) yeast

In a large bowl, disolve the sugar in water and sprinkle the yeast on top; let it stand for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile scald:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter

until the butter is melted; cool to luke warm. Mix the yeast briskly with a fork and add the milk/butter. To this add:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour

Beat well. Gradually add more flour (up to another 2 1/2 cups, but not necessarily that much) to make a soft dough. Knead it well and place it in a greased bowl, turning the bread to grease the top as well. Let the bread rise until doubled (about 1-1 1/2 hours).

Punch down the dough and roll it out to about 1/2" thickness. Cut it into 2" squares (more or less; it doesn't matter if it isn't perfect). Melt 1/2 cup butter and dip squares into the butter; arrange them in a 10" (4 L) tube pan. Cover and let it rise again until doubled (about 1 hour).

Cook at 375 for 45 minutes.

Rip pieces off and enjoy!

Time Wasters

I stopped watching tv once because it was taking up too much time (and the shows weren't really that edifying).
Unfortunately, I ended up on the computer instead.
Now I spend too much time watching tv and on the computer.

So here's the thing: if I stop doing something useless or time-wasting but don't start something worthy, I end up in the same (or a worse) position. It's just easier to do nothing.

I'm cutting back on tv again (except when The Netherlands is playing in the Euro cup; let's not be mixing up loyalty with wasting time) and turning off the computer more. I plan to spend the time studying and doing other important stuff.

Um...any ideas about what may be considered important?

Procrastination

I should be starting to research Nehemiah and coming up with a thesis/topic sentence for the paper. Instead I have...

1. printed out pictures for the rest of the Children's Church lessons to the end of 2 Kings (or until the 2nd week of October, which kills writing lessons as a worthy procrastination tool until fall)
2. baked bread
3. read a chapter of "An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics" (which doesn't really count since it was on the to-do list anyway)
4. gone for a nice walk because I needed to get out of the house for a bit
5. checked email and Facebook
6. blogged, the latest in my list of procrastination tools.

Guess how excited I am about doing that research!

From Lamentations 2

16All your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth
They say, "We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day for which we waited;
We have reached it, we have seen it."

17The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old
He has thrown down without sparing,
And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the might of your adversaries

Do you see it? The enemies are so proud of what they have done... but it wasn't them at all! It was what God had purposed and He did it.

It's still true. No matter what people do, it is really God's plan; His purposes will prevail.

Big Thoughts

This morning while I was praying I was thinking about how God made everything, and I was thinking about how big and complex the universe is. There is so much that we don't know or understand yet.

And God is more than the universe. He made it which means he's outside it and greater than it and more amazing..... And my mind would not take it it. Could not take it in. It is too much for a finite mind, to comprehend an infinite God. All I could do was sit in wonder.

That's what I mean by Big Thoughts: the ones that you can't quite grasp, that are too much for your mind. The things that are beyond us but that point to the awesomeness of God.

Because he says it so well...

...go read what Chad has to say lately. It's good stuff.

(and take a quick minute to admire my ability to include a link)

More on Learning

The thing is that learning changes people, or at least it changes me. Everything I've been learning is making me grow and stretch and change. It's not just school; in fact, it's not really school. It's Bible study and church and Sunday School and the study with the elder and how it all ties together. It's seeing God working in my life and wanting to know Him more. The thing is, nothing is properly learned until you apply it all and that's what I'm trying to do. And it means changing behaviours and thoughts and attitudes.

And it's tough stuff. Learning and growing isn't easy and sometimes it hurts. It takes time and energy and sometimes I want to give up. And sometimes I look around and I'm not sure where I fit now. It's hard.

But it's worth it. It's always worth it.

Question:

If you don't accept the sovereignty of God, how can you accept even the possibility of prophecy? Accurate prophecy would necessitate God working in people's lives in very specific ways. Wouldn't it?